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Thursday, May 30, 2013

We are officially on summer vacation! Well, I take that back. Xander is on summer break. Tiff and I still have the normal work schedule all day every day while Xander gets to have fun at summer camp for the next couple of months until he starts first grade at a new school!

Look at this guy! Not a TON of difference, but I can definitely see a change in his face. Definitely less baby, and he has a whole new set of teeth coming in. By December 2012, he was missing almost the whole front of his smile. Now he's getting his permanent teeth and his whole smile has changed.

This year, Xander has changed in many ways. As a kindergartner, trying to find his way socially, we have found that he sure is a chatterbox. That's all we ever hear. He's a fantastic student academically. He's reading above and beyond his grade level. He's learning quickly. He catches on. But he just needs to stay focused and stop talking! I do not know where he gets that because both his dad and myself were very shy growing up and just kept to ourselves. In the long run though, he will probably benefit from being a more outgoing and talkative individual.

Not only is Xander moving to a new school district for elementary school, but we had to say goodbye to the amazing YMCA program, where Xander has spent every day after school as well as summer camp last year. What an amazing group of people over there! They are always interested in parents being involved. They teach their students real life-lessons, rather than just make it a daycare situation. I will truly miss the YMCA friends I made through volunteer work, and I'm sad that Xander is having to end that chapter in his life.

Next year, life will be different for Xander. More time spent at his dad's house. A uniform to school every day. A whole new set of friends. I hope he is able to adjust to all the changes easily.

Until then, we will be enjoying the summer with library time, farmer's markets, bike rides (and hopefully finally learning how to ride without his training wheels!), swimming, and playtime at the park.

Friday, May 24, 2013

This last week has kind of been a
roller coaster ride for me. As our plans to expand our family are
getting closer and more real, we have realized that we have GOT to
get our funding in line for this baby, because holy moly, IVF is not
cheap! Contacting Medical Loan companies and feeling like we're
getting the run-around. Worrying that we're just going to get denied
everywhere. It's just starting to get to me. I mean, it's already
unfair that my wife and I can't have a child together as it is. But
on top of that, we also aren't able to adopt because we're a same-sex
couple. And we also can't get insurance coverage for IVF treatments
because as a same-sex couple, we're not ACTUALLY infertile. So what
are we to do? Are we really going to be denied the right to raise our
own child together? I know many would look at our situation and say
that this is just a sign that same-sex relationships are wrong and
that we aren't meant to make babies... But I refuse to take that as
a reason. I know the love that my wife and I share, and I know that
we are meant to raise a wee little one together. I know our love is
meant to be carried on through a baby of our own. I just know it.

Every so often when I'm feeling down
about the possibility of this whole thing NOT going through, I need a
little trip to the baby store. So yesterday, we hopped in the car and
headed to Babies R Us so we could get excited all over again. Ahhh, I
just love it! We were looking at all the teeny tiny shoes, and Tiff
told me she's just gonna eat up our little one's cute toes, and that just melted my heart. She's
going to be such a great mom, and I can totally see her loving on our
baby and eating its little feet and neck rolls. Having a baby with
Tiff is going to make me fall even more in love with her.

The financial side of things is going
to be rough. Honestly, I'm not sure where the money is going to come
from. But somehow it will work out. I will not give into the idea
that we are not meant to have a baby just because we are gay. You
cannot put a price on our future child, and we will do whatever it
takes to make it happen.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Welp,
you can say it's been awhile since I have been around this neck of
the woods. All my efforts have been over at HappyFoodHealthyLife. I
have made the decision that I need to be better at actual
JOURNALLING. I really don't write a whole lot about my personal life
over at HFHL. Over there, I have to worry about SEO, technical
things, pleasing my readers, etc etc. That's all fine and dandy, but
sometimes I wonder: Shouldn't I be documenting my life story
somewhere? I need to get back to that. In a no pressure way. Maybe
it'll be every day (although I highly doubt that), or maybe it'll be
once a month. Either way, changes are happening in our lives, and it
is time to put it all down on paper.

So
where are we now?

Xander
is just about to finish kindergarten at Fremont Elementary school,
and I couldn't be more excited for summer to start. Things have
changed for Xander this year. He's gotten more attitude. He's learned
how to lie. He's learned about taking cool things, like toys and
candy, to school in order to impress his friends. All while
frustrating Tiff and myself in the meantime. This summer, Xander will
be spending more time at his dad's house, and we will get to have him
on the weekends. That will be such a welcome change for us for a few
reasons. One: we're honestly really burnt out on all the lieing and
disobeying. Two: We get to be the fun weekend parents! Three: Tiff
and I really need some time for ourselves as we prepare for a new and
exciting time in our lives together.

And
what a perfect segway...

We
have decided to expand our family, and we couldn't be more excited!!
We have just barely started the process of IVF (in-vitro
fertilization), which is scary, expensive, and really quite surreal.
We are going about this conception in the most complicated way
possible. We are using Tiff's egg and an anonymous donor, and I will
be carrying the baby. Things are still at a pretty early stage, but
we start hormone injections in the next month or so, and we're hoping
to be pregnant in July, which would make for an April 2014 baby. EEK!
Less than a year from now, we could have a real live baby! And I know
I've been a Mama to a newborn before, but it's been almost 7 years,
and I'm scared to death of that whole first year. It did not come
easy for me. But I'm also a very different person now with a very
different (ie, more involved) spouse. We couldn't be more excited for
this new journey in our lives, and I can't wait to record it all
here.

I
guess that mostly sums up the big things going on for us. I’m
working hard at trying to build my blog, Tiff got a great promotion
at work, and we’re just trying to make it through day in and day
out. Summer is right around the corner, and we have some fun plans in
the works. Hopefully, this will be a more regular thing, as I
document our new and upcoming journies.

About Me

Welcome to my blog! I'm Holly, and I'm a mom to a handsome 5 year old boy, and a new wife to the love of my life. I've created this blog as a place to record my family's journey in life as well as sharing some cooking and home-improvement creations I've come up with. I hope you enjoy!